NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS SEASON WRAPS UP
Hartwell Early Bird Challenge tyler Christy and Scott Springer bested the 67-boat field battling in the Cabela’ s Lake Hartwell early Bird Challenge Feb. 19. the pair weighed in an 18-01 limit, which included a 5- pounder that won the Big Bass Award.
Devildog Anglers’ Jacob Smith and Hunter Harrison landed in second with a limit of 13-11, followed by Cole and Karston Hopson of Rivers Academy elite with five fish for 12-11. In all, 176 bass weighing 341-08 were brought to the scale, including 19 limits.
For additional information on the Student Angler Federation’ s High School Fishing program, please visit their website at highschoolfishing. org. Mason Waddell( left) and Cal Culpepper. Tyler Christy( left) and Scott Springer.
NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS SEASON WRAPS UP
The final qualifiers for the 2017 the Bass Federation National Championship were decided Feb. 18-19 when the 2016-2017 National Semi-Finals season wrapped up. the District 23 showdown involved tBF members from Arizona and California competing on Lake Havasu out of Lake Havasu Marina.
Arizona’ s Charlie Crawford stormed out of the gate on day one, sacking an 18-01 limit to grab a solid lead on the boater side of the event. Fellow Grand Canyon State boaters Max Hernandez and Chris Cook were next on the leaderboard with 17-12 and 13-09, respectively. Arizona’ s Richard Vizcarra paced the co-anglers with an 11-05 limit.
On day two, Crawford struggled a bit to fill his livewell and ended up with four bass for 11-06, but it was enough to carry him to victory with a 29-07 total. He earned a slot in the 2017 tBF National Championship and $ 1,690 for his efforts, not to mention serious Southwestern bragging rights for at least a year.
California’ s George Fedor climbed from fourth on day one to second in the final round with 25-04. Fedor, who was the only boater in the field to box a limit both days, also claimed a trip to the championship, plus $ 870. Californian Robin Oh rose to top the co-anglers with a total weight of 20-07. In seventh place, California’ s Bryan Kurata claimed the $ 500 Ranger Cup award for being the highestfinishing boater registered for that popular contingency program. the Arizona Bass Federation took home the first District 23 State Pride Award with 78-03. the award is determined by adding the weights of four boaters and co-anglers from each state, who are selected prior to the event. Overall, a total of $ 9,480 in cash and prizes, representing a 131.5 percent payback, were awarded in the boater and coangler divisions. the new tBF National Semi-Finals system pits top grassroots anglers from each state in a“ close to home” weekend event with neighboring states for significant cash prizes and advancements. Anglers qualify for the Semi- Finals in one of two ways: Active state clubs in good standing can send their top two anglers directly to the event, or the top 10 percent of state championship event participation or a minimum of 12 anglers per state qualify – whichever is greater. the new format pays back 100 percent of entry fees, including 75 percent to the top 20 percent of the field, 10 percent to the state federations and 15 percent to the tBF National Championship.
For details, visit bassfederation. com.
District 23 winner Charlie Crawford weighed in a mixed bag at Lake Havasu.
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